LIFE'S A BLEACH
by Jalex Fan
Summary: It has been six years since Aizen's defeat. Ichigo has become the new Captain of the Fifth Division. There's been peace, but that peace is about to end as a new evil rises.


**A/N**: I don't own _Bleach_ or any of its characters. They belong to- Blah, blah, blah. Of course I don't own _Bleach_. If I did, Ichigo would end up with Orihime. Enjoy : - )

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✻**LIFE'S✻A✻BLEACH✻**

✻**B✻L✻E✻A✻C✻H✻ ✻1✻**

✻**Sereitei, Soul Society**✻

The Captain of the Fifth Division, Ichigo Kurosaki, was running around the maze like paths of the _Sereitei_, looking for someone. His lieutenant, Momo Hinamori, was right behind him trying to keep up. Ichigo turned a right corner and screeched to a sudden stop, as he came face to face with a dead end.

"Why the hell are there so many damn dead ends in this place!" yelled the captain, with his fist over his head.

"Not again," Momo whispered quietly to herself. This had been the sixth time that Ichigo had hit a dead end. Ichigo turned around, mumbling incoherent words with his permanent scowl in place. He left the dead end alley and continued looking for the mystery person.

Ever since Ichigo became the Fifth Division Captain, the Division's morale has increased. It had been near rock bottom ever since Aizen betrayed the Soul Society. But thanks to Ichigo it still continues to rise, slowly but surely. They all respect and admire his power, especially since it took him only three days to learn _Bankai_, and his strong will to protect. In their eyes that makes him the strongest captain of the _Gotei Thirteen_.

After a few more minutes of running around, he found the person he was looking for. Byakuya Kuchiki. The Captain of the Sixth Division was on his usual daily walk through the _Sereitei_. "Hey, Byakuya!" Ichigo yelled at him. The noble stopped walking and turned around to see the young Captain running towards him, waving his right arm. His white captain's _haori_ fluttering in the breeze. Momo was having a difficult time keeping up with the carrot top. "Can you slow down a bit Captain Kurosaki?" Momo yelled towards him; Ichigo didn't even hear her.

Ichigo stopped a few feet from Byakuya, and tried to catch his breath. "I've...been...looking...for you," said the _Shinigami_. A few moments later Momo was beside him, also trying to collect herself. "What do you want with me, Ichigo Kurosaki?" the dark haired captain asked, a bit coldly. It made a shiver go down Momo's spine.

"I actually wanted to ask you something," Ichigo answered. Byakuya just looked at him, as if his slate gray eyes were saying, _Hurry up, I don't have time to waste with you_. Ichigo got the message and started to ask, "Do you know where Rukia is? I've been looking for her the last few hours, but I can't find her. We were suppose to-"

"How would I know where she's at?" he answered simply. Ichigo opened his mouth to say something else, but the Head of the Kuchiki Clan interrupted him, "You are to address me as Captain Kuchiki, Ichigo Kurosaki." Ichigo put his hand behind his head and said, "Should I? I thought you liked being called Byakuya." Byakuya was now getting tired of Ichigo's insolence. He started reaching for the white hilt of his _Zanpakutō_, _Senbonzakura_. It wasn't an obvious movement, it was a very subtle one, but Momo still managed to detect it. She immediatly stood in front of Ichigo and Byakuya; she was bowing down. "Please forgive Captain Kurosaki's rudeness. He has a very thick skull and it takes time for things to set in. It won't happen again."

Byakuya just looked at the lieutenant, with his emotionless eyes, and stopped reaching for _Senbonzakura_. He then dropped his arm back to his side. "Very well, I'll let it pass this time. But next time I won't be so kind." He turned around, his back was towards the captain and lieutenant. "Bya-" Ichigo started, but was cut off. "No, I don't know where Rukia's at." With that Byakuya was on his way.

"What's up his ass?" Ichigo said as the Sixth Division Captain turned a corner. Momo looked up at her captain, "Captain Kurosaki, you should always address all the captains by their title. It could get you into trouble and I won't always be there with you to get you out of it." Ichigo looked down at her and put a hand on top of her head and ruffled her hair; she blushed a bit at the contact, "I suppose you're right about that." Ichigo had recently developed this habit. He would usually do this when Momo did something he thought was amusing, when she had a good point, or to reassure her of something. In this case, it would be the second one. He then removed his hand, but still kept looking at her, "You don't always have to call me Captain Kurosaki, you can just call me Ichigo."

"But that wouldn't be right. You earned that title and it would be extremely disrespectful of me if I didn't call you as such."

"Call me Ichigo, that's an order." With that she became quiet. She couldn't ignore a direct order from her captain. She then thought of something, "Can I call you Captain Ichigo instead? Calling you by just your given name doesn't seem appropriate for a lieutenant." Momo finished.

Ichigo sighed, "Sure, you can call me Captain Ichigo." _Is it really that damn difficult to call me Ichigo_. Nevertheless, he couldn't get or stay mad at her. He viewed her more than just his lieutenant, he saw her as a good and trusted friend. "Come on, lets go."

"Where?" asked Momo as Ichigo passed by her.

"We're going to find Renji and see if he knows where Rukia is. Pineapple Head should know where his wife's at," he answered. Ichigo suddenly stopped and said, mostly to himself than to Momo, "It's strange, Rukia's not the only one I can't find. I don't know where Orihime, Chad or even Uryū are at." They both then started walking toward the Third Division Barracks. A few months before Ichigo became the Fifth Division Captain, Renji was promoted to Captain of the Third Division. He was recommended by, believe it or not, Byakuya Kuchiki.

As they were nearing the Third Division Barracks, Ichigo heard a familiar voice behind him. "There you are Kurosaki." Both the Strawberry and Peach turned around to look at the person.

"Tōshirō!" yelled Momo excitedly, maybe a little too excitedly, as she saw him standing on top of a nearby wall.

"What are you doing here, Tōshirō?" asked Ichigo.

"I've been looking for you. And it's Captain Hitsugaya to you two," the Tenth Division Captain said. "What for?" asked Ichigo.

"I was sent by Head-Captain Yamamoto, he has requested for your presence."

"Why does the Head-Captain want to see Captain Ichigo? Did he do something wrong?" asked Momo, a bit worried. This wouldn't be the first time Ichigo has gotten in trouble.

Tōshirō turned to look at his childhood friend and said, "I don't know why he wants to see your Captain, but he hasn't done anything wrong. I believe." She relaxed a bit. He then turned back towards Ichigo, "I suggest you hurry and go see him; it might be important." The white haired captain turned to leave, but was stopped by the orange haired Soul Reaper, "Should I bring Momo with me?"

"If you wish." With that Tōshirō Flash Stepped out of there. "I'll have to look for Rukia later then, huh. Come on Momo."

They had been walking for a while, but they were then stopped by a deep gruff voice, "I found you Ichigo." The voice came from a nearby building. Ichigo slowly turned to follow the voice, hoping it wasn't who he thought it was. Unfortunately, for him it was. Standing on top of the building was none other than Eleventh Division Captain, Kenpachi Zaraki.

"I told you he was here Kenny," his pink haired lieutenant, Yachiru Kusajishi, said. "For once your sense of direction didn't get us lost." Kenpachi told her. She turned her attention to Ichigo, "Hi Ichi," she told him waving her arm. Kenpachi then jumped off of the building and landed a few feet away from Ichigo and Momo. "Kenny's in a good mood today," Yachiru giggled. With another person that might seem like a good thing, but not with the battle loving captain. With those words Kenpachi pulled out his nameless _Zanpakutō_ and pointed the jagged blade to Ichigo. "Are you ready to fight, Ichigo?" It was more like a command than an actual question. "Where's jiggles," the small lieutenant asked with her hand above her brow, looking around for her.

"I'm sorry Captain Zaraki, but my captain can't fight with you today, he has a very impor-" Before Momo could finish, she was dragged away by Ichigo. Ichigo had grabbed the back collar of her _Shihakushō_ and had starting running like hell. "I'm not fighting you!" he yelled back at Kenpachi. Yachiru stared at the cloud of dust that rose as Ichigo ran, "Ooooh. He's fast, isn't he Kenny." The Captain then started to give chase, "Come back here and fight me you bastard."

"Yay a chase. Faster, Kenny, faster. Yay." Yachiru yelled.

Ichigo had been running for the last fifteen minutes, still pulling Momo behind him, trying to get away from the crazed Kenpachi. He did managed to get away from him, by using Flash Step, since Zaraki wasn't too good with that technique.

He was running down a street, and then quickly turned into an alley, pulling his lieutenant with him. The alley was made by two buildings in close proximity to each other. He placed his back to the wall with Momo pulled close to him. He tried to control his pounding heart and bring it back to a normal pace. "I think I finally lost that crazy bastard." He then placed his strong right arm, unkowningly, around her petite waist. Pulling her even closer to him. With his left hand he was playing with her hair bun. As Momo realized what her captain was unconsciously doing, her face began to turn a deep red color. "C-Captain Ichigo," she began, as she looked at his arm around her. Even though she knew he wasn't doing it on purpose, she felt save in his grasp. It reminded her of Captain Aizen.

"Yeah, Momo," Ichigo replied as he was looking around the corner to make sure it was Kenpachi free. "You can let go of me now." He was confused by what she meant; until he looked down toward her and saw his arm firmly around her waist. He quickly let go of her and said, "Sorry about that. I didn't realized I was doing that." He was a bit embarrassed by it. "I-It's okay," responded the cute little peach a bit shyly. She didn't look up, so he couldn't see her still flushed face.

"We should be heading toward the First Division office and see what Gramps wants," he told Momo. She just nodded in agreement. He jumped on top of the tiled roof edifice he was leaning against; his lieutenant followed his lead. Ichigo jumped on the roof so he could get his bearings and see where the First Division Barracks were. It was towards the north, which was to his right, so he and Momo headed in that direction using Flash Step.

"Damn, I hope Gramps isn't angry that it took us almost half an hour to get here." The pair was running on the wooden floors towards the Head-Captain's office. Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto isn't a very patient man. It had actually taken them twenty-seven minutes, from the time Tōshirō informed Ichigo, to arrive. They spent fifteen minutes trying to outrun Kenpachi Zaraki. Then it took them ten more minutes to get here because the strawberry would stop every few moments to make sure Kenpachi wasn't around. Of all the captains, Zaraki was the only one that actually scared him.

The _Shinigami_ finally reached Head-Captain Yamamoto's office door. "Sorry I'm late. I ran into a problem with Kenpa-" Ichigo stopped talking once he slid open the door and saw five people he didn't expect. He didn't acually anticipate anyone to be there, other than him and Momo. They were Orihime Inoue, Yasutora "Chad" Sado, Uryū Ishida, Renji Abarai, and Rukia Kuchiki. They all turned around when the door slid open. They saw a surprised looking Ichigo standing at the door's entrance.

"Ichigo, you finally made it," Orihime yelled happily, as he entered into the office,with Momo behind him, a little confused as to why they were all there. As he got closer to them, the princess ran up to him and gave him a big hug. "Hey, Hime." He returned the hug and gave her a quick peck on the lips. Did I forget to mention, Orihime is Ichigo's fiancée. Yeah, they're gonna get married. When she separated from her future husband, she then greeted the lieutenant. "Hi, Momo," she told her with a kind, warm smile.

"Hello, Orihime." Momo returned her smile. She really liked Orihime. She was kind, sweet, and friendly; the feeling was very much mutual.

"What's up...Ichigo," said Chad in his deep voice toward his best friend. "Oh, hey Chad," Ichigo replied back.

"Did you get lost getting here or did Captain Zaraki scare you?" said Uryū mockingly as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose with his index and middle finger.

Ichigo turned toward him and gave him a menacing glare and retorted, "Shut the hell up Uryū, before I kick your ass!" Four eyes didn't even get affected by Ichigo's threat.

"Better late than never, huh Ichigo," added Pineapple Head. "Well, punctuality was never his strong suit," Renji's wife, the midget, aka Rukia, finished.

"You two shut the hell up, no one asked for your damn opinion. You two have gotten even more annoying ever since you got married." Ichigo was right about this. Ever since Renji and Rukia got married, they've been acting as if they were one being with two heads. They would agree on everything, but they only did this to irritate Ichigo. It worked of course. Eveytime.

"Anyways, what are you guys during here?" Ichigo asked.

"Isn't it obvious or are you that much of an idiot?" Uryū answered. Ichigo looked back at him, "You know what, screw you Ishida."

"The Head-Captain summoned us here too, but we don't know why," Orihime explained to her love. He looked at her, "Thanks, Hime." He gave her a loving smile that was only reserved for his beautiful and well-endowed princess.

All the while, Momo was just standing next to her captain and watched as he interacted with his friends. Even though they annoyed and aggravated him, sometimes to no end, he still cared for them and would do anything in his power to proctect them. Especially Orihime.

Before they could continue their back and fourth, all seven Soul Reapers suddenly felt powerful _Reiatsu_ crushing them. "Enough of this infantile nonsense!" Yamamoto barked at the group before him, as he slammed the tip of his cane on the wooden floor. The bearded man then eased on the _Reiatsu_ he was releasing towards the seven of them. Even though it was only a small portion of Head-Captain Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto's mighty Spiritual Pressure, they still had to take a few moments to collect themselves.

They all then turned and faced the First Division Captain, and stood at full attention. They were standing in this order: Momo, Ichigo, Orihime, Chad, Uryū, Renji, and Rukia. "We apologize Head-Captain," Renji said. All of them bowed in apology and they then stood back up after a few seconds.

"The reason I called you all here," Yamamoto began. "Is to inform you that you are being sent on a mission to the World of the Living."

✻**to be continued...**✻

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**A/N**: Well, there you go. That's chapter one. Review so I know what you thought of the story. Thanks for reading; And Remember: _"Nothing is true; everything is permitted."_

Story © 2011 Jalex Fan  
Manga © 2001 Tite Kubo  
Quote © 2007, _Assassin's Creed_, _Ubisoft _


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